Spritz cookies are my favorite cookie at the holidays. I don’t make them any other time of the year, just as I don’t watch “A Christmas Carol” or “The Grinch” in July. These cookies bring back strong childhood memories for me, mostly of my Mom’s frustration with her antique cookie press.
If I had only known how to use a pastry bag when I was 5, I would have helped ease some of that maternal angst. The correct use of a pastry bag is an easier way to make spritz cookies, and it allows you to make many different shapes with one bag.
Just like the other cookies we’ve been talking about this week, the key to making cookies from scratch is in the mixing method. The Creaming Method is most often used for cookies, and these holiday cookies are no different.
The creaming method means creaming together fat and sugar, adding eggs, then liquid, dry ingredients, and any nuts, spices, or seasonings at the end. The first stage of this procedure is most important, adding air to the fat and sugar mixture for a light and crunchy cookie.
When butter and sugar are creamed together correctly, it should look like ice cream on the mixer paddle. If the mixture is granular, sparkles, or crunches when you taste it, return to the mixture and continue to incorporate air until it’s very light and fluffy.
Spritz cookie dough does not rest in the refrigerator like the cookies for Santa we made with sugar cookie dough. Sugar cookie dough needs to be very firm to be rolled out and cut into shapes. With bagged cookies, the dough needs to be soft enough to push through the pastry bag opening.
The correct way to hold a pastry bag is by pushing all the dough toward the tip and twisting the top of the bag to force the contents outward. I’m right-handed, so I place the twisted end of the pastry bag between my thumb and fore-finger of my right hand.
Squeezing with my right hand is what pushes the dough toward the tip. The mistake most people make is exerting too much pressure with their other hand, thus pushing the dough upward. My left hand is used only as a guide, and doesn’t do any squeezing at all.
With even pressure from my right hand and a gentle guide from my left, I create a small spiral of dough about 1 inch in diameter. Coiling the spiral on top of itself, a final push downward then quickly upward will leave an attractive first portion of spritz cookies.
I can decorate with colored sugar, candy pearls, or ice cream sprinkles and bake them for beautiful cookies that ARE the definition of holiday baking for me and so many others.
What’s your favorite holiday cookie? Leave your comment crumbs below:
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I made the Spritz cookies with great success. Thanks for the tips.
At what temperatures do you bake the souffle and the spritz cookies?
Hi Lynn!
Spritz cookies are baked at a higher temperature than chocolate chip because of the high fat content, at 400F/205C. Souffles are baked at an even higher temperature for the “oven spring” needed for the eggs to leaven the product and then set the structure, about 425F/218C.
I rarely leave a response, however I looked at some of the responses here Spritz Cookies – It’s All In The Bagging!
| Chef Todd Mohr’s Web Cooking Classes. I actually do have a couple of questions for you if it’s okay.
Could it be simply me or do some of the responses look like they
are left by brain dead visitors? 😛 And, if you are posting at other places,
I’d like to keep up with anything new you have to post. Could you list of every one of all your shared pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?
Hi Priscilla!
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I’m curious, it looked like you used waxed paper on the cookie sheet…does that help the raw cookie dough stick better? My biggest frustration, because I use a press, is getting the darn cookie to stick to the pan!!
Hi Terri!
I use Parchment Paper on all baked goods. The main reason is that I don’t have to wash the pans. However, it does provide some insulation that inhibits burning on the bottom.
The good news for you is that it will help your piped and pressed cookies stick to the paper when portioning, but will be easier to take off after baking. Additionally, without added fat or pan spray on the pan, your cookies won’t spread out as much when baked.
I buy it commercially in large cases, but I’m sure you can find it online or your local kitchen supply store.
Oh, another quick tip. To “glue” the paper to the pan, place four little dots of pan spray in each corner of the pan, then place the paper down.
Or, if you do enough baking, you can invest $50 or so in a silicone baking sheet. It’s reusable.
Ward – you can use the tip inside the bag, if you use it outside the bag you need a coupler to hold it on.
Sugar cookies are my favorite, either way they’re made.
I’m curious though, does the metal tip go inside the pastry bag, or held on the outside? (It seems it would work better inside the bag so it didn’t squirt off the bag!)